Well, I couldn’t find a new coffee machine that was lacking in that other bugbear of mine, BPA, so I went for the traditional percolator. But, on the same shelf….

….. was this bad boy!

Some years ago now, we were treated to a traditional indian curry, by a friend of ours, who regaled us with tales of the acting world and how she was fed up with being typecast, only getting parts as a little Indian woman, then informing us of her next part, playing…. an little Indian woman!

Anyway, I digress, the curry was magnificent, a receipe handed down from her grandmother, as it always seems to be, no forks, all fingers,…. but then she took me into the kitchen to show me her “coffee maker”, a Bialetti.

It was the first time I’d actually had an espresso (I was wet behind the ears, what can I say…..) and was knocked off my feet when I took my first sip.

So, it was with fond memories, I reached for the box…. made in Italy too! No idea why it’s taken me so long to get round to purchasing my own one. She’d give me a right ticking off if I told her.

Now, all we have to do is get the “formula” right and we’ll be away. The good thing too, is this ain’t no ‘lectric dependent gadget, so we can take it on the next camp trip. How very cultured, eh! After a good nights kip, under the stars, getting the first coffee buzz of the day with a campstove espresso. Can’t wait.

On that note, I’ll leave you with the wisdom of a work colleague of the Missus…..

Having not been in the UK for over 5 years, I have no idea what the situation is like, but I do remember the one we frequented in Richmond was always full of young kids with their mums and dads. I remember the one in Eastbourne being the next best thing, with DVD and CD’s rentals. Have they really found themselves that unused? Totally empty? I find that hard to believe.

With the cost of living increasing every time I look and with job security uncertain, the library would and should be, I would have thought, a place to learn new skills, or to develop existing ones and chart a course for yourself over the next few years. New languages easy to try via CD or audio book, tips and books on growing your own food, beekeeping, building a shed. Far from being depressing, this period we find ourselves in could be, as Wire says, allowing you to find “pathways into different worlds from the one you’ve left outside.”

So, wherever you live, turn the TV off, get your shoes on and bugger off to your library. Support it. You never know what you’re going to discover or what ideas you’re going to have. One day, when it’s too late, you may suddenly realise what you gave up when you allowed them to get rid of them.

Big Brother Interested In Your Garbage (Castanet)
Read Article @ http://tinyurl.com/28sszbm
Kelowna Council will be asked Monday to pony up approximately $1.50 to $1.70 per household per year for on-board computers, software, data collection and data hosting services not included in the initial phase of the project.

In his report for council, Utility Services Manager Don Degen says along with collecting basic data, the system makes it easy for collection drivers to gather additional information that may result in further contact with the customer, or constitute an offence such as an illegal item in the cart, a cart in a bike lane or an overloaded cart.

Er…. “illegal items” in the cart?

Now, assuming they are still going to be unlocked allowing them to picked up and emptied, and they are still left at the roadside, what happens when someone walks down the street and decides to put something in the nearest bin, being mine, for example, not intentionally, but nonetheless “illegal”? What happens? I’m fined? It’s happening in the UK, so please, get your head out of the clouds….

Also, when you tell me it’s for all our benefit, making life “easier”, bear in mind that’s also what you told me when the radio transmitting water meters were installed, only to find out a couple of months ago that there were after all, ulterior motives….

Democracy, as conceived by politicians, is a form of government, that is to say, it is a method of making people do what their leaders wish under the impression that they are doing what they themselves wish.

Like this:

So, those transmitting wifi water meters were not just about "making it easier for the customer" after all….

Limits in place for watering systems

Stage 2 sprinkling restrictions have been rescinded and Stage 1 restrictions have been implemented in some areas of West Kelowna.

The Board of Trustees has implemented Stage 1 Sprinkling Regulations (even/odd) as per Bylaw No. 635) on residential, commercial, and institutional customers, and will be monitoring the water use by agricultural customers.

WID has completed its universal water metering program and is now able to monitor the quantity of water consumed by all customers.

Thanks for asking if we wanted them, government of Canada and thanks for doing the homework on them before you forked out the cash, OUR cash. Let’s hope someone kept the receipt….

Full-body scanners are waste of money, Israeli expert says

A leading Israeli airport security expert says the Canadian government has wasted millions of dollars to install “useless” imaging machines at airports across the country.

“I don’t know why everybody is running to buy these expensive and useless machines. I can overcome the body scanners with enough explosives to bring down a Boeing 747,” Rafi Sela told parliamentarians probing the state of aviation safety in Canada.

“That’s why we haven’t put them in our airport,” Sela said, referring to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport, which has some of the toughest security in the world.

… and there’s always something that smacks me up sharp, to make me change my mind….

I guess it would be a mistake then. I’ve always got a camera with me, snapping shots of this and that, buildings, sunsets, clouds, people…. clearly, I’m up to no good. I deserve to have my collar felt.

So, when the civil liberties people banged on and on about the fact that the laws they brought in, to make you feel safe, would eventually be turned on you, nobody wanted to know. Pop Idol was on, or something far more important to distract you from the more serious things going on….

Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.Benjamin Franklin